Journey of Lies

Twenty minutes later, the motorcycle drove into an open parking area.

After parking the car, Sheng Zhi helped Jiang Xia out, and while taking off his helmet, he introduced, "JJ Market is only open on weekends, so we're lucky to have caught it today."

Jiang Xia handed him the helmet, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a tissue, and looked at the large sign in the distance that read – Jing Jai Market.

Jiang Xia took out her phone to take a picture, but then she saw several missed calls from Ren Jiayi.

When I called back, the call was answered quickly.

"Xiaxia, did you just wake up? I'll come find you in a bit..."

Jiang Xia explained that he and Sheng Zhi had come out and gave the name of the market.

"Oh, that's alright. I'll talk to you again tomorrow. I have an appointment with the agent at nine o'clock tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you, Jiayi."

"You're always so polite with me. This market is great to browse, but unfortunately I only have time for lunch with you today. I have other things to do this afternoon, so you two can take your time."

"Okay, go ahead and get busy. See you tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xia noticed that Sheng Zhi was filming him.

A group of people walked by, and they looked to be around the same age as the group, all wearing tank tops, hot pants, and short skirts.

"Look," Sheng Zhi raised her chin slightly, then looked down at Jiang Xia's overly conservative attire, "you don't seem to realize that this is Chiang Mai."

Jiang Xia pursed her lower lip and strode forward, with Sheng Zhi following closely behind, laughing at her for saying she couldn't.

The two strolled and chatted, with Sheng Zhi always being the one who did more talking.

This wasn't his first time here; he seemed quite familiar with the place, introducing the clothing section, the handicraft section, and the food section.

The small stalls sell all kinds of goods, from head to toe.

Jiangxia hadn't been out and about in a long time, and couldn't help but stop and linger at each stall for a while.

The hand-woven lucky bracelets brought back memories of my student days. The shop owner was a young girl who only spoke Thai, but she was very enthusiastic. She pulled Jiang Xia to try on several different bracelets and even squatted down to show them to Jiang Xia's ankle.

Jiang Xia had never experienced this kind of service before, and subconsciously took a half step back before quickly buying two items.

The little girl put her hands together and kept saying "Sawasdee ka".

After walking past several stalls, Jiang Xia was drawn to a dress worn by a mannequin.

She had only glanced at it a couple of times before, but then Sheng Zhi went to chat with the proprietress. After a few words of laughter and conversation, the proprietress walked straight towards her.

"Beautiful lady~ You're so crystal clear~ This dress is gorgeous, and it suits you perfectly~"

You can tell that the proprietress has said these things to many people; they're a generic template.

"Thanks……"

Jiang Xia's voice trailed off as she prepared to leave, but the proprietress grabbed the same clothes from the hanger.

"So pretty~ Shawls can be worn like this~ like this~"

The proprietress moved swiftly, untying the versatile mesh shawl and quickly wrapping it around Jiang Xia's body. In just a few seconds, it served as a shawl, a cover-up, and finally, a waist decoration.

"Crystal clear~" the Thai proprietress praised repeatedly, while Jiang Xia, held there, had his cheeks slightly flushed.

"Try this." Sheng Zhi took a long sundress from another rack. It had a knitted openwork design on top and was made of cotton and linen fabric from the waist down.

Before Jiang Xia could speak, the proprietress had already walked to the temporary fitting area and pulled back the curtain. "Please~ This way please~"

Jiang Xia turned to look at Sheng Zhi, who was smiling, as if he had planned it all along.

She wasn't good at refusing people, especially since the service here was very attentive. With the proprietress holding up the curtain, Jiang Xia had no choice but to bite the bullet and go in to change.

Two minutes later, Jiang Xia emerged without taking off her white T-shirt, wearing a linen-colored spaghetti strap dress, prompting the proprietress to exclaim, "So beautiful!"

"That's more like it, look for yourself." Sheng Zhi pulled her in front of the full-length mirror, his face full of admiration.

It definitely had a more vacation-like atmosphere. The proprietress, not giving up, stepped forward and turned the shawl into a waist belt, tying it around her waist and casually making a bow on the side, transforming the dress, which originally had no waistline, into a design that fit her curves.

Perhaps the Chinese vocabulary she had learned wasn't enough to describe the shock, so the proprietress started frequently spouting Thai, all of it praise.

Jiang Xia stood in front of the mirror and, finding the reflection more appealing, asked about the price. The proprietress then took out her calculator and began typing away rapidly.

"Cheap, cheap, much cheaper... Are you okay with this?" The shopkeeper casually gave Jiang Xia a 20% discount, and even gestured to her, "You and your boyfriend, look handsome and beautiful~"

Jiang Xia was taken aback for a moment, then quickly explained, "No, he is not my..."

"OK." Sheng Zhi mimicked the proprietress's accent, took the calculator, and applied an additional discount.

The proprietress pouted, her expression quite varied. After a brief back and forth, they finally settled on a 60% discount.

The boss helped Jiang Xia put on his jeans, all the while saying something full of emotional value.

Jiang Xia took out her phone, but before she could ask if she could pay by scanning a QR code, the proprietress waved her hand and said, "No Alipay. Cash only."

Having grown accustomed to electronic payments in China, and with many shops in Bangkok supporting Alipay, she hasn't yet developed the habit of carrying cash.

"It's so beautiful, how can I let you pay?" Sheng Zhi said, having already paid the bill.

Jiang Xia didn't want to owe him anything, so she silently noted down the amount.

Before leaving, Sheng Zhi asked the proprietress for a hair clip as a free gift.

"Don't move," Sheng Zhi said, using his height advantage to tuck Jiang Xia's hair behind his ear. "That's right."

Jiang Xia looked at her phone; it was a flower-shaped hair clip, its light blue color adding a splash of color to her otherwise plain outfit.

As they strolled into the food area, Jiangxia's stomach was already rumbling.

The sun was shining brightly, and Sheng Zhi bought two servings of the popular coconut glutinous rice ice cream from the internet. Jiang Xia held them and ate them as they walked.

Do you come to Chiang Mai often?

"Around five times, I prefer islands." Sheng Zhi slowed his pace, keeping pace with hers.

"Like the Phuket type?"

Jiangxia doesn't know much about Thailand's tourism culture, only that many of her friends go island hopping in Thailand.

A few years ago, Jiang Xia asked Xu Xiujie why he hadn't heard him mention going to an island for fun.

She couldn't remember the answer anymore, and always felt that she and Xu Xiujie had nothing to say to each other.

Later, she specially arranged her honeymoon in Phuket, and Xu Xiujie did not refuse her.

Before Jiang Xia knew it, he followed Sheng Zhi to the entrance of a restaurant. It was just past noon, and the restaurant was already full.

"This place is so crowded, is it a Thai restaurant?"

"It's a Michelin-starred restaurant for several consecutive years, and the food is good, so let's eat here."

"Looks like there are no seats left..." Jiang Xia peered out.

Sheng Zhi was a man of action. He went up to talk to the welcoming waiter and kept glancing in Jiang Xia's direction. Jiang Xia watched his mouth from afar, wondering what he was going to say next.

The waiter left halfway through their conversation.

Sheng Zhi walked over to her, having finished the coconut ice in his hand.

"What did you say again?" Jiang Xia pressed.

"I told my girlfriend that she was starving and would get angry if she didn't eat on time. If she got angry, we would argue, and if we argued, we would break up. If we broke up, I would be devastated."

Again.

Jiang Xia rolled her eyes at him, gradually becoming desensitized to his repeated nonsense.

Just when they thought there wouldn't be any more seats, the waiter who had spoken to them earlier came out and nodded to them.

There turned out there was a two-person table in the corner. The two of them were lucky, because after they sat down, a long queue formed outside the store in no time.

After ordering, Jiang Xia said to him seriously, "Don't make jokes like that again."